Monthly Archives: November 2014

Can India afford to let air quality in all its cities degenerate to health and life-affecting levels? Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and others – all reported as hovering over ‘Hazardous levels’ of Air pollution by NDTV Pollution Report

Severity:

A) According to TERI et al Report (The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), A) University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB)), transport sector contributes to upto 50% of Particulate Matter (PM) in the air, which is a major component of air pollution in Indian cities

B) The World Health Organization estimates that, of the 67 risk factors studied in its Global Burden of Disease project, outdoor air pollution was ranked 5th in mortality and 7th in health burden in India.

A) TERI et al report says that drastic reduction (more than 90 per cent) of Particulate Matter (PM) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) from the transportation sector, primarily diesel vehicles and buses, will have the largest and most immediate beneficial impact on human health and food – Immediate government action required

B) Old vehicles to be banned from the roads – http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/vehicles-older-than-15-years-won-t-be-allowed-in-delhi-says-green-court-626453

F) Spreading public awareness is another critical area – While Government needs to proactively impose stringent norms and adopt new greener technologies, people need to know the status of air pollution and impact it can have over their health and life; and also how they can not exacerbate the problem at individual level –